Remember when your mother would tell you to spend your (her) money on books rather than going to the movies? If we at USDemocrazy had only listened, we might be making more money than we get blogging (a whopping $0/week!!).

That said, we’ve spent more than enough time enjoying some silver screen novelties. Here to help you enjoy some of the best of the films of 2009, we’ve gathered up some of the ‘best-ofs’ for 2009:

To kick off, Time rounded up their top ten for the year, which included a fair share of animated films. If that’s your thing, you’d be particularly interested in their number one pick — “The Princess and the Frog” — for a fresh take in classic form on royalty and amphibians. Check the trailer below:

A good place to turn for all things culture is New York Magazine, which rounded out its top ten with a few movies, to be quite honest, we’d never heard of. But they must be good. However, one familiar, controversial, and visually exciting film made the cut: James Cameron’s Avatar. The trailer, in all its blueness, is below. …read more.